packers offense: their run game takes a big hit with james starks either not playing or dinged up as our run defense has been gashed at times although it is very strong in short yardage situations. ryan grant is only an average runner. as any game the pass rush is key. our DL wins the matchup with their OL hands down. rodgers will be under duress most of the game and the gameplan should be to come after rodgers at all costs, get him rattled. i do not mean to blitz LBs, i mean tell the line to pretend its 3rd and long even though its 1st and 10 or 2nd and 5 and only play the run on 3rd and 2 or less. I dont want to see Cunningham blitz as much as last week but I would like to see a spy and perhaps delayed blitzes at rodgers especially if they start to roll him out as they often do when the blocking up front isnt as good. having willie young back is a huge help and hopefully lawrence jackson can give it a go as well. there will be 1-2 roughing the passer penalties, more than that though and im not sure we can overcome them. they are especially weak at the LT position and our ends should have a field day. the pack will spread it out to get mismatches as they have 3 very talented WRs but James Jones has fallen out of favor and Donald Driver is taking most of his snaps. Jordy Nelson especially is a big strong fast WR that Im not sure we have the personnel to cover effectively and Greg Jennings isnt as physically imposing but is explosive more refined and has better hands than Nelson. The biggest nightmare however might actually be TE Jermichael Finley who has been somewhat quiet this season but the Lions no longer have the Julian Peterson type LB who you could try to use to cover him man up. Without an answer for most of the one on one matchups we will play in a zone and look to be opportunistic on tipped passes or rodgers getting pressured. aaron berry playing will be a big lift and hopefully amari spievey got the message as well last week. also please nobody bite on their play action passing, there is no reason to respect run against them. The crowd will be a major advantage w the game being nationally televised Lions fans are going to be loud, the Packers use a silent count so there wont be a ton of false starts like MNF but it ll be enough to keep them from using there no huddle and changing plays at the line which is a big part of there game. They wont be able to utilize matchups as much as they like if that environment plays out.

lions offense: the packers 3-4 will be spread out and wont look like its usual self. with only 3 down lineman the key to a good running game is doubling BJ Raji and having Peterman, Sims, and Raiola blocking to the second level which is there strength. Im not worried about their ends on our tackles but they do run some interesting blitz packages and Clay Matthews is trouble for anyone. The OL has improved communication on blitz pickup so hopefully confusion wont be a factor like its been previously. Smith made some nice runs last week and it wasnt just good blocking, he made people miss and got yards after contact in a way that Maurice Morris couldnt. THe Packers depth in the front 7 isnt all that good and there run defense IMO is only ranked high bc teams are forced to pass on them bc of the game score. Smith should be a key part of the gameplan. Stafford obviously has to have one of the better games of his career for us to have a chance in this game but I think he and Linehan learned last week that we are most effective when we spread the love and not force feed the game to Calvin Johnson. Burleson and Young are good players and so is Pettigrew. Rashied Davis showed an ability to get open and catch the ball last week as well and thats important bc the Packers have 2 very good corners but we should have the advantage in personnel when we spread them out.

Sp teams: if there are no big plays in this facet of the game, I think we win the game but Cobb is explosive and it didnt look like the Lions had things figured out just yet last week. The Packers will step on our throat on Sp Teams.

Prediction: what i ve noticed of the packers is that they have a tendency to get ahead but leave teams hanging around for too long into the game and there are a few plays a game where the opposing team has had shots to bring them down but it just hasnt quite happened. IMO they are not as dominant of the Colts and Pats teams taht went undefeated deep into recent seasons. Stafford will spread it around early to keep pace with the Packers but to win a shootout against them is unlikely, the run game opens up in the second half and Smith, Morris and medium depth passing to Calvin control the clock in the second half just enough to keep our defensive line fresh enough to frustrate Rodgers. The Packers are better but history says that few teams will go undefeated and this Packers team isnt one of them.

I think the key to this game will be the Lions penalties. They can get away with a lot with lesser teams, they won't here. If they can play disciplined football and allow their talent to shine through, they can run with these cats. The Lions have all the intangibles in their favor: